Читать книгу English for Life Reader Grade 8 Home Language - Elaine Ridge - Страница 16
Оглавление| Pre-reading | |
| 1. | What memories do you have of being on a swing? What feelings come to mind? |
| During reading | |
| 2. | At what point do we move from seeing this poem as about a boy swinging to having a sense of what is going on in his mind? |
Boy on a swing
Oswald Mbuyiseni Mtshali
Slowly he moves
to and fro, to and fro,
then faster and faster
he swishes up and down.
His blue shirt
billows in the breeze
like a tattered kite.
The world whirls by;
east becomes west
north turns to south;
the four cardinal points
meet in his head.
Mother!
Where did I come from?
When will I wear long trousers?
Why was my father jailed?
| Post-reading | |
| 3. | In this poem, the boy’s perspective literally changes as he swings backwards and forwards, up and down. What does this mean? |
| 4. | How does the poet help us imagine the action of the swing? |
| 5. | Quote the simile (comparison) in stanza 2. How does it help you to picture the boy? |
| 6. | What are the “four cardinal points”? (If you don’t know, you can work this out from the context.) Explain how they become confused in the boy’s mind. |
| 7. | The first two questions he asks his mother are typical questions a young boy asks. |
| a) | What is important about wearing long trousers? |
| b) | The third question takes us by surprise. What does “Why was my father jailed?” tell you about everyday life where the boy lives? |
